


I'm just pumped, just bought some shit from a magic shop

by Meyli_Vaisyl



Series: Do you believe in life after magic? [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: AU, Attempt at humour, Identity Porn, M/M, Secret Identities, i wrote it was jaydick and tagged it as such, it does not make a lot of sense, jason and dick are not siblings, jason and dick do not know each other, jason todd does magic, jason todd will be a good dad, no beta we die like robins, no time for home-made magic store-bought will have to do, roy harper makes a brief appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28049652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meyli_Vaisyl/pseuds/Meyli_Vaisyl
Summary: "Don't worry, I'll take care of the cop. I just need to pick up something real quick."Roy frowned. There was something deeply worrying about hearing Jason say things like "don't worry"."Like what?""I just need a top hat and a cool suit jacket" he said with a cunning smile.Without another word, Jason was gone.Chapter 1: Jason has a bit too much fun and Dick is impressed.Chapter 2: Red Hood is a good dad and Nightwing is confused.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: Do you believe in life after magic? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2062389
Comments: 24
Kudos: 115





	1. Got that street magic

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Magician Tries To Sell Weed To Cops!](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/725739) by Undercover Cop!. 
  * Inspired by [My brother does this cool card trick](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/728091) by mrbulian (tumblr). 
  * Inspired by [Street Magic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/728094) by o-kurwa (Tumblr). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first official attempt at writing fiction in English. It was complicated. I can write an essay in English: no sweat. But ask me to write fiction in English and... lots of sweating.
> 
> Please do not hesitate to point to mistakes in the comments or MP. I have already tried to correct myself the best I could, and will keep on doing so. I did not seek a beta as I was scared to chicken out if I did not publish this asap, as this has happened before. 
> 
> (Je peux publier une version française, si ça intéresse quelqu'un.)

Dick was not having a good day. People usually thought he was always cheerful and positive. But sometimes, especially when he was feeling lonely, it was difficult for him to maintain his good mood.

He did not regret moving to Blüdhaven. His relationship with Bruce, in particular, improved greatly with the distance. But he missed his friends and family. He had asked for his weekend off so he could spend some time at the manor, hang out with the kids and friends. But Bludhaven Police Force was having a tough time. They were severely understaffed and all his requests had been denied. On top of that, his partner had called in sick for the day. So Dick found himself patrolling alone. Again. Which was not only very dangerous but also very against police protocol.

Personally, he did not mind that too much. After all, he had way more training that any other cop in the city and was more than able to protect himself. But he worried for other rookie cops that did not have Dick's abilities. One them would be killed one of these days. They could not just send rookies on their own in the city and let them fend for themselves! He was not even sure anyone would come if he needed backup.

His phone started ringing. Barbara. He recognised her ringtone. He turned in an empty side alleyway and parked his patrol car. He answered the phone as he left the car.

She wanted to know if he could come to Gotham in a couple of days. Something about board games evening at the manor. She was disapointed, of course, when he told her that he was working every day for the next couple of weeks.

"It's not like I'm not trying, Babs" he sighed. "This is the third time I've applied for time off."

"Excuse me, Officer!"

Dick turned around to face a very strange looking man. He was wearing a top hat, a black suit jacket and khaki cargo pants with heavy working boots. Dick was far from being a fashion icon, but this combination was definitely interesting.

"Would you like to buy some marijuana?" the man continued, shaking a see-through bag, full of what looked like weed.

Dick sighed. Maybe he was still too close to Gotham. Her crazy was reaching Blüdhaven.

"I gotta go."

Dick hung up, without waiting for an answer. She was probably mad, but he would deal with that later.

"I'm thinking maybe 40 dollars?" the stranger offered.

He was not in the mood to deal with a jackass today.

"Give me the bag" Dick snapped as he tried to snatch it off the hands of the suspect.

The man pressed one hand against the other, preventing Dick to access the bag. Dick grabbed the stranger's wrists and looked at him with the most intimidating expression he could pull off.

"Hey. What's in your hands?"

"There's nothing in my hands" the jackass answered in a light tone.

Now that Dick was a bit closer, he noticed that the man was way younger that he originally thought. He was probably in his early twenties, maybe even younger. He briefly wondered why a young man would actively try to get arrested.

They had rare cases where abused kids would try to get locked in the police station cells on the weekend, in an attempt to get away from abusing parents. But these children usually looked terrified the whole time. Maybe the cops were not their abusers, but they were not exactly reassuring either.

But it was Tuesday morning and that kid did not seem scared one bit. On the contrary, his eyes seem to be half serious, half amused.

"WHAT'S IN YOUR HANDS?" Dick asked again, raising his voice.

Sometimes it worked. The suspect would get flustered and cooperate.

"There's nothing, I swear..."

The idiot was smiling now. A discrete sly smile that irritated Dick.

"OPEN YOUR HANDS."

"Alright!" the young man agreed. He opened his hands slowly and Dick grabbed whatever he was holding.

At first, he was a bit surprised by the texture of the object. It was red...foam? He flipped it around to have a better look and noticed that it was a word. The word "NOTHING". In big red letters.

"Oh, what are you? A comedian?" Dick asked, unamused. He threw the foam to the floor.

"Actually, Officer. I'm a magician" the guy corrected, as he held out his hands in a way that was clearly a provocation.

That was IT.

"Okay. Up against the wall, Houdini."

Dick slammed him against the wall. He started patting the young man, looking for the drugs.

"Oh, Officer" the suspect giggled. "I don't usually get touchy before the third date, but maybe I can make an exception for you?"

"Listen, Houdini..."

"If you are going to be touching me like that, Officer, you may call me Jason" the jackass interrupted, still against the wall.

Dick wanted to slap him. But decided to keep on searching him. If he was focused enough, maybe he could avoid being so annoyed.

Leg. Left pocket.

"You hiding something?"

"In a matter of speaking" Jason replied in a very not helpful way.

Sigh. Other leg. Right pocket.

"Are you hiding something?"

Jacket. Inner left pocket.

"Possibly."

Dick was about to answer when he felt something in the pocket.

"Oh. We got something here?" he said in a triumphant voice, while pulling the thing out.

Once again, it was made with foam. Big green words, saying "SOMETHING".

Dicks threw it to the ground and let Jason go.

"Listen. I'm gonna give you one chance. Show me that bag!"

Another day, he probably would have found funny to get tricked this way. After all, he had always loved magic tricks. But he was a police officer and he could not forget that the man potentially had drugs on him.

"Alright, Officer. If you insist" he agreed. He put his hands in his inner pocket.

That was easy. Probably a little too easy. Dick tensed before bringing his hand against his gun holster. He had no intention of using it, but he learned that a cop's weapon could intimidate people into not doing stupid shit.

Jason froze for a second and briefly glanced towards Dick's gun. An expression passed on his face, but was gone almost as soon as Dick saw it. Without Batman training, he probably would not have noticed. However, it was still too fast for him to properly identify what it meant. Worry, maybe? Or fear. That would be logical, Dick guessed.

The fact that Jason noticed the gun reassured him a little bit. Maybe he was a jackass, but he was not dumb or crazy. He did have some sort of survival instinct. Dick could definitely use that. Crazy Gotham goons were immune to intimidation. Silly Blüdhaven thugs were not.

"Slowly bring it out" Dick ordered. Jason took out a brown bag and put his hand inside. "That's NOT the same bag! What's in there?"

Whatever emotion Jason seemed to feel earlier was gone now. It was replaced by a goofy smile. Dick was not sure if it was all an act or if the young man was genuinely enjoying himself.

"Alright, here we go!"

Jason suddenly started to pull out what Dick could only describe a giant a stick.

"Just a back up" the magician continued.

Baffled, Dick took a moment to notice that the end of the stick was white, but the rest of it was black. It was a magic wand. A huge one.

"Oh my god," he whispered.

Okay, that was pretty cool.

In a smooth gesture, Jason took the rest of the wand off the bag. It was taller than Dick.

"OH MY GOD."

Dick laughed. He took the bag off Jason to check inside, as if there would be some clue on how the trick worked.

"Dude, how did you do that? That's amazing!"

"No. It's magic."

Dick laughed again. He did not forget about the bag of marijuana, but he figured he needed to at least congratulate the young man before arresting him. Dick grew up in a circus. There was only so much magic you could do in front of him before his inner child forced him to be impressed.

"Would you like to see some more?" Jason asked in an excited voice.

"Dude, I would _love_ to see some more !"

Jason took out a card deck from his sleeve and pointed it towards Dick.

"Pick a card."

And Dick did. Jason shuffled the cards under the attentive gaze of Dick. His favourite thing about magic was to try and find out how it was done, without ever succeeding.

Jason stopped mixing the deck and once again pointed it toward Dick.

"Touch your card, Officer."

"Okay."

Jason turned the card that Dick indicated.

"Three of spades... It's not your card," he said, as he watched Dick's expression fell.

"Queen of Diamond was my card" the former Robin whispered.

Dick did not expect the magician to smile.

"That's cause you gotta give it a shake!"

Jason shook the card, then suddenly turned it to reveal a Queen of Diamond.

Dick was about to lose his _shit_.

After that, Jason did a couple more card tricks and some coin ones. Coin magic was Dick favourite and Jason received a lot of praises.

He was vaguely aware that he still needed to search Jason, and possibly arrest him. But he could still do it later.

He got pulled out of his trance when a car alarm went off in a nearby street. Dick wondered if he had to go check it out.

"Do you know what time it is?" Jason asked suddenly.

Dick glanced down at his watch.

"It is 11.55."

Dick did not realize that nearly forty minutes have passed since he first pulled out to answer Barbara's call. She would definitely kill him.

"Well, I unfortunately must go." Jason sighed in an over-exaggerated way.

"Oh, damn" Dick answered.

He was a bit dissappointed, but also a quite amused. Clearly the man thought Dick would just let him go without making sure that the bag was not full of drugs. Somehow Dick doubted it.

It seems like Jason was just looking for someone to practice his magic on and entertain himself. He just chose an unconventional way to catch Dick's attention.

"But how 'bout one more for the road?" Jason offered.

"I would _love_ one, yeah!"

One more, then he would arrest him. Sounded fair.

Jason turned to face the empty street.

"Does anyone in the audience have a pair of handcuffs?"

He pretended to look around before glancing at Dick.

"This guy does!" Dick shouted enthusiastically while raising his hand.

Jason held his hands out in front of Dick and encouraged him to handcuff him. That certainly would make things easier for Dick.

He secured the handcuffs on Jason's hands. He doubted the young man would be able to get out of them easily. He might be used to cheaply made handcuffs of magic shops, but real police ones were not as easy to break.

What seemed like a second car alarm started blaring out. Dick frowned. He would definitely go check this out after putting Jason in the back of the police car.

"Can you cover my hands, please?" Jason asked while giving Dick a small handkerchief. "Then can you hold on to my hands underneath the handkerchief?"

Dick did as he was told. He was a bit surprised by how cold Jason's hands were. He had not noticed it earlier because he was too annoyed, but they were definitely colder than they should be.

"One. Two. Three."

Jason grabbed the handkerchief and pulled it out in the most dramatic way he could probably think of. Dick was shocked to see that the handcuffs were now around his own hands.

"Now our bracelets have switched!"

Jason triumphantly raises his arms. It was then that Dick noticed that his watch was now on the magician wrist.

He had a bad feeling about this.

"Okay. You know what, this isn't funny anymore. My dad gave me that watch, buddy."

That was true. Bruce had given him this watch for his eighteen birthday. He had refused to wear it though, because of how strained their relationship was. But now that things were better, he had started wearing it as a gesture of good faith. He was sure that Bruce had noticed. He always noticed everything.

"You know what, this is enough magic," he decided.

"It's not magic. It's a crime!" Jason shouted.

Without warning, he threw a white powder at Dick. Later that day, Dick would find out it was a mix between chalk, ashes and glitter. He covered his face for just a couple of seconds in order to protect himself. That was enough time for Jason to flee.

Dick ran towards the corner of the street to try and follow him. He looks frantically at both sides. But he was gone.

He frowned and started to free his hands from the handcuffs as he walked back to the car.

He was a little ashamed, but almost as equally impressed. This guy had managed to trick him quite easily. And Dick promised himself that Batman would never ever find out about that.

After freeing himself, he unlocked the patrol car and sat in at the driver seat. Something was off. He looked around the car. To his surprise, his watch was placed on the dashboard.

"What the..."

He grabbed Bruce present and put it back on his wrist, amazed. He was away from the car for less than two minutes! How did this guy manage to break into a police car and leave the watch?

Dick was not even sure he could do that. Not that fast anyway. Could Batman do that? Maybe.

He glanced at the wheel and saw a pink Post-it glued to it.

_"That was fun, Officer. We should do that again, sometime! XO -J"_

Followed by a phone number.

Dick laughed and shook his head. He was certainly not going to call back a magician criminal wannabe.

He folded the note carefully and put it in his shirt pocket. To dispose of it later. Definitely not to use it.

* * *

"Jaybird, what took you so long?" asked Roy when he saw Jason ran back to him. "I sent you like three signals saying that I was done! Did you not hear them? I was getting worried. Are you okay?"

Slightly out of breath, Jason slapped Roy shoulder as he walked past him. That was the closest he would get to an apology and they both knew that.

"I was a having fun!"

He got in the van, leaving Roy confused.

"You were supposed to distract the cop" Roy stated once he joined his teammate in the vehicle. "How come he ended up being the one distracting you?"

"You always say I need to try and make friends!" Jason accused.

"I meant other vigilantes! Or like, a rich sugar daddy that would fund us. Not some random cop from Blüdhaven!"

Jason shrugged and started the car. Then, he took his phone out of his pocket, glanced at it before placing it near the gearbox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic title from "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.  
> Chapter title from "Black Magic" by Yung Mavu.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr, with the url meyli-vaisyl
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	2. 2 Fast 2 Magical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Let's do some magic, y'all!" Red Hood shouted enthusiastically. 
> 
> Wednesday night. Crime Alley. Dick was watching a known murderer perform magic tricks in front of him. Gotham would never fail to surprise him.
> 
> (Or: Red Hood is a good dad and Nightwing is confused.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is part two! 
> 
> I was not really planning on writing a sequel so soon, but I stumbled upon two videos on my tumblr that inspired me.
> 
> Anyway, writing in English is HARD. But I wrote that chapter instead of writing an essay for my American Literature class. So it counts as homework! 
> 
> Please do not hesitate to let me know if you find any language mistakes.
> 
> Enjoy!

The first time that Nightwing saw Red Hood, he was in Crime Alley.

Dick was not in Gotham very often, these days. But Bruce had been injured and needed to rest for a couple of days. Which, of course, he would never do. So the other members of the family forced him into some kind of deal: they would each take a part of the city, while Batman would cover the Upper West Side and shut up about it.

Giving him this part of the city had two main advantages. First of all, it was unlikely that anything too bad would happen there. If they were lucky. And also, it was as far away as Crime Alley as they could put Bruce without him noticing.

So there was Dick. On a Wednesday night. Patrolling the worse part of Gotham.

He didn't mind too much being in Gotham. The only issue was the commute from Blüdhaven. It was not massively long, but he still had to work during the day. And when you are living a double life, every second of sleep counts.

Alfred had offered him to stay at the Wayne Manor, but Dick had refused. That would not really solve his commute problem. And he did not want to push his luck with Bruce. The fact that they were not actively yelling at each other did not mean that things were easy between them.

It was his last day of mandatory patrolling in Gotham. Bruce was feeling slightly better and had let his family know that he would go back to full duty the next day. None of them agreed, but there was no point arguing with Bruce when he made his mind up about something. No matter how stupid it was.

Dick was about to wrap up his patrolling and go home when he heard laughing. Laughing in Crime Alley. In the middle of the night. While it was not necessarily worrying, it was strange enough that he felt like he _had_ to investigate.

As he followed the sound of laughters, he noticed they belong to children. Now that was definitely weird. Children in Crime Alley did not have the reputation of being the most happy kids out there. Dick did not blame them. None of these kids had an easy life. And while it was heart warming to hear some happiness in this part of town, it was not normal.

It did not take him long to locate the source of the noise. He crouched against the side of a building and had a peek at the street down below. The first thing he saw was not super reassuring.

Red Hood.

Dick went back to hide and mentally went through his options. He knew three things about Red Hood.

One. He killed people. In fact, he was killing several people on a daily basis. Only criminals, maybe, but that still made him a killer. He was dangerous and unpredictable.

Two. The GCPD thought of him as a vigilante, more than a villain. Because they could not be bothered to try and stop him. And, while he never actively hurt an innocent in the past -as far as they knew, he had tried to kill Batman a couple of times. So the Bat Family were not huge fans.

Three. He was regularly seen with Arsenal. Dick's old friend: Roy Harper. None of the Bats had been able to confirm if they were occasional partners, friends or more. They just knew that the duo would hit shipments of drugs, equipments and human beings. Then they would be gone before any of the local vigilantes showed up. It was impressive, really. They hit fast and were out just as fast. The only reason why the Bats doubted that the two were full time partner, was the patrols. Arsenal was not seen patrolling the streets at night. Only Red Hood appeared to do that.

So he had to be careful. If the team was planing a hit, Arsenal would be there to back his partner up and Dick could be in serious trouble. His relationship with Roy was complicated, to say the least. Dick did not want to risk his life by assuming Roy was not pissed at him.

Nightwing used the sensor in his mask to scan through the buildings roofs around him. No one. He relaxed slightly, but kept his guard up. He looked down the street again.

Red Hood was behind a tumbledown table and had about six kids in front of him. They were all tiny and looked REALLY young. Maybe seven or eight years old. It was always hard to tell with street kids. They were always smaller than they should be for their age.

Red Hood had something on the table. Dick had trouble to see what it was. From where he was, he could only tell it was small and most likely white. He should probably take his binoculars out of his utility belt, but he was tired. He was trying to save all the energy he could. If he was going to battle Red Hood on a low battery, he had to.

One of the kids touched the object and Dick saw Red Hood give whatever it was to him.

Dick frowned. Was Red Hood...selling drugs to the kids?

Their file on him mentioned that he targeted a lot of criminals that hurt children and women. He really did not seem like the kind of guy that would sell drugs to kids in Crime Alley.

But the doubt was still there and he had to act fast. If there was any truth to that, he had to stop him tonight.

He briefly considered calling for back up before deciding against it. It was his first meeting with the vigilante. He wanted to make his own opinion without having Batman throwing punches around. He was hoping he would not regret his choice.

Nightwing jumped off the building and grappled his way down. He chose to land in a spot that was far enough away that he would not be seen a direct threat by Red Hood, but close enough that he could intervene fast, if necessary.

The second his feet touched the floor, Red Hood jumped over the table, placed himself in front of the kids and held his arms out. The children instinctively hid behind the man. That surprised Dick a bit. The people in this part of Gotham were easily the most untrusting people out there. They did not trust the police, the doctors, the vigilantes or even each other, for that matter. And the kids were, most of the time, even harder to reach than the adult.

But here they were, hiding being a murderous vigilante.

Dick tried to get closer. Without missing a beat, Red Hood took out one of his gun and pointed it at Nightwing.

"I don't wanna shoot ya in front of the kids, man. But take one more step and I will _not_ hesitate. Leave," he growled.

That is not how he imagined the other man's voice. It was low and slightly modified by his helmet. He did not sound like a robot, but also not entirely human. He thought he heard a slight Gotham accent, but he was not fully sure. Dick held his hands up and tried to look as unthreatening as possible.

He noted that Red Hood had added "in front of the kids" to his sentence. Did that mean that he would shoot him in another setting? Did he have the same beef with Nightwing as he did with Batman? That would not be surprising. He was Batman's former sidekick, after all. A lot of people that hated Batman, also hated Nightwing and the rest of the family.

"I don't want any trouble" Nightwing reassured. "I just wanted to check out what was happening. It seemed like you guys were having...fun?"

He took his eyes off the gun for a second to stare at the kids. They looked like they had better days. Their clothes were dirty and torn apart. They were way thinner than any child should be. And they were scared.

It took Dick a second to realise that they were scared of _him._ Not of the guy with the gun. A few of them were holding onto Red Hood trousers like a lifeline. The rest of them were firmly pressed against each other. It was like they were trying to make themselves smaller to all fit behind him. Red Hood basically looked like an angry mommy duck protecting her babies.

An angry mommy duck with big guns she was _NOT_ afraid to use.

Dick was sure the man had noticed the kids clinging onto his legs. It would be hard not to. He probably knew that, if Nightwing attacked right now, his reaction would be slowed down enough for him to take a hit. But he made no attempt to shake them off. It was hard to tell with the helmet, but Dick was certain Red Hood's attention was entirely on him.

"I'm only going to say this one more time. Go. Away."

From what they had heard about Red Hood, he was not the type of guy that gave a warning. Let alone two. It was that, more than anything else, that convinced Dick that as long as he did not spook Hood or the children, he would not get shot.

"You guys looked like you were having a good time," Dick said with a light smile. "Can I join in?"

He glanced at the helmet before looking down at the children. He had the feeling it was them he had to convince, more than the vigilante.

Red Hood cocked his gun.

Okay, maybe he also had to convince Red Hood, a little bit.

One of the children, a little girl with dirty blond hair, slowly emerged from behind her protector. She looked slightly older that the other kids. She grabbed his jacket and gave it a soft pull, to let him know she wanted attention. The man turned his helmet slightly in her direction. Dick was almost certain that he was not actually looking at her.

"He's cool," she said in a quiet voice.

This time, his whole head turned towards her.

"You sure, princess?"

Once again, Red Hood had managed to surprise Dick. His tone was slightly tense, but he had spoken to her in such a _soft_ voice. Even through the electronic filter of his helmet, it was obvious he cared about her. It threw Dick off a little bit.

The girl turned around to face the other kids. One by one, they gave a shaky nod. She nodded back and looked up to Red Hood.

"Yes, we're sure, Mr Hood."

They did _not_ look sure, Dick thought. He could almost feel them shaking from where he was. But they did seem determined. And if there is one thing no one could take off street kids, it was their determination. Their sheer will to survive was stronger than anything else.

And apparently, they decided to give Dick a chance. He was not about to mess that up. He promised himself he would not attack Red Hood first. Not if he could help it.

"Come on," she continued as she grabbed his free hand. "Let's finish up! You have school tomorrow."

She started to walk back to the table and tried to take Red Hood with her. He did not move. Instead, he turned back to face Nightwing, his gun still pointed at him.

"You try _anything_ and I'll deck ya. Got it, Birdbrain?" he said.

"Sure thing," Dick agreed.

After a few seconds, he put the gun away and let himself be dragged by the child. Once she joined the others, she let his hand go. He walked back towards the other side of the table and faced the group.

Nightwing got closer before being stopped.

"Stay where the FUCK you are" Red Hood snapped. "You can watch from here."

"Mr Hood! Language" one of the kids admonished. He was by far the smallest and the scrawniest of the group.

The helmet let out a soft static noise that Dick deduced was a muffled laugh. No one will ever believe him if he said that Red Hood, the terror of Gotham's night, was getting told off by a tiny boy.

"Sorry, kiddo. So," he announced, louder, as he clapped his hands. "Where were we?"

"We just finished cups and now we're doin' card. After that, bed time" a boy answered.

Red Hood nodded. He took something out of his pockets.

"Let's do some magic, Y'ALL!"

The kids laughed and gave him a big cheer. Their previous fright was completely forgotten. They looked almost happy. Almost like normal kids.

"I have three cards" Red Hood stated before putting them on the table one by one. "One. Two. Three."

Wednesday night. Crime Alley. Dick was watching a known murderer perform magic tricks in front of him. Gotham would never fail to surprise him.

It reminded him of this guy Dick had met a couple of months ago. Jason, was it? It had cheered him up a little and reminded him how much he enjoyed magic tricks. He had not called him, though. Not because he was not intrigued or did not want to; he just did not have time. Between his day job and his nocturnal activities, he did not have a lot of free time to accommodate a friendship with a civilian.

"First one is the Joker" Red Hood said while flipping a card around. "Next one is the second Joker. Third one is an Ace."

Dick glanced at the kids. They were silent and fully focused on Red Hood's hands. It was like nothing else mattered other that the cards in front of them.

"Alright Ace is on top." He showed the card before pointing at the girl who had spoken earlier. "So now, Jamie, you're gonna tell me where is the Ace. Look carefully. I take the Ace. I put it at the bottom. Where is the Ace?"

"On the bottom," she said, confidently.

"WRONG." He turned the card for them to see. "It's the Joker."

The kids gasped. Dick was not impressed.

"So now, you may say: _'oh, it's gonna be on top then!'_ NOPE."

Red Hood flipped the top card to reveal another Joker.

"Now, gang, where do you think the Ace is?"

"In the middle!" the kids shouted all at once. A couple of them were bouncing up and down.

"NO. Nope. Look, it's the Joker again. And I can hear what you are thinking. _'Oh, he doesn't have it anymore.'_ No, it's right there."

He showed them the bottom of the pile, where the Ace of Clubs was clearly visible.

That was cool. But not as impressive as Jason's trick, Dick thought. But to be fair on Hood, he was performing magic to little kids, so he did not have to make as much effort as Jason did to distract a cop from a bag of drugs.

"So now, forget about the Ace," Red Hood said enthusiastically. "Erase it. Erase it from your mind. Pay attention, little bug."

He pointed at the small kid who had told him off for swearing, earlier. The kid straightened himself up.

"All you have to do is tell me where Joker is. You have three guesses."

"On top?" the kid asked, with a small voice.

Red Hood turned the top card around.

"No, it's an Ace."

"Middle" he tried again.

"Nope, another Ace. Last chance, John."

The kid frowned.

"Well, it's not gonna be at the bottom now. Is it?"

Red Hood laughed. It was not the static noise he made earlier. It was much clearer and sounded like a genuine laugh.

"Ah, you got me there!" he laughed as it showed the last card, which was the same Ace as before.

A few of the kids clapped.

"Now, I know what some of you might be thinking." He raised an accusing finger to the crowd. "You're thinking: _'well, he's lying. He obviously has more than three cards. What an idiot he is.'_ Now look."

He placed the cards one the table one by one while counting.

"One. Two. Three."

He took the cards back with a swift movement.

"Now, forget about _everything_ I just said. I'm gonna show you this card."

He put a card faced up on the table. Joker.

"And this card."

He put the Ace down.

"Max, what's this card I'm holding now?"

"A Joker" another boy answer, unsure.

Red Hood slammed the last card on the table.

"WRONG. It's a King of Diamonds!"

The kids laughed and screamed all at once.

Even Dick left out a chuckle. He did not see that one coming.

It seemed to catch Red Hood's attention. He turned his head towards Nightwing and stayed quiet for a few seconds.

One by one, the kids calmed down. Another thing that Dick had noticed about street kids, is that they were always very in tune with what other people were feeling. They could feel any shift of emotion or energy in an instant. The group looked back and forth between the two vigilantes.

Suddenly, Red Hood clapped his hands and bent down to their level.

"Now, kids," he said in an excited whisper. "I know it's supposed to be the last trick of the night, _but_ we have a very special guest. Would you like me to do somethin' just for him?"

The kids were visibly very excited by this idea, but instead of agreeing they all turned toward the oldest girl. Jamie, Dick remembered. She was the leader of the group, no doubt about it.

"Don't you have class, in the morning?" she asked, frowning.

Dick had heard her mention school earlier on, but only now did he realise she was talking about Red Hood. Was he still at school? With all the skills the other man displayed, Dick expected him to be around the same age, if not older than him. But he now reconsidered. Was Red Hood a kid? Was his murderous rage some kind of _teenage_ angst? Or maybe he was at university?

"It's a very quick one. Promise," he said. "Won't take more than a couple of minutes. Then bed time."

So Red Hood was negotiating with a little girl. This night was destroying his scary reputation. Whoever Bruce had described to Dick was not the same man he had in front of him. It did not mean Bruce was wrong, though. But there was more that met the eye.

"Okay," she agreed.

Red Hood nodded and grabbed a backpack from under the table. Without a word he pulled out several plastic bags. He gave out a bag for each kid. Some of them looked heavier than others. Each of the children thanked him as they accepted the bag.

It took a while for the smell to reach Dick's nose, but eventually he realised the bags were full of food.

"Now, remember" Red Hood said. "You go straight to your hideout, you give out the food and y'all eat it straight away. Okay? I will be back in a few of days with some more, so no need to try and stash it. That will only get you in trouble. Alright?"

"Yes, Mr Hood" they all said together. It was clearly a speech they were used to.

"So, Nightwing. Come closer, please" Hood invited.

In other circumstances, Dick would have been nervous and uncomfortable with the thought of being that close to a known killer. But he had no doubt Red Hood would not lift a finger against him, as long as he was close to the kids. Unless he attacked first.

Dick got closer and gave a small wave to the children. They only answered with tense smiles.

To no one's surprise, Red Hood walked around the table and placed himself between Nightwing and the group. Dick was a little bit offended, but did not comment.

Red Hood pulled out a full deck of cards and held it faces down in front of him.

"We are going to do something very simple, Nightwing. You are going to pick a card. And whichever card you pick subconsciously, I'm then going to give you a reading based on that card."

The kids shifted a little. It was probably a new trick they had not seen before. Dick could almost taste their excitement.

"So, for instance," he continued. "If you were to pick the Queen of Heart, that would tell me that you are a very loving person, very caring. But if you were to pick, like, a Clubs card, that would tell me that you are bubbly, outgoing and like to live a fun life."

Nightwing bit back a scoff. Yeah, right. Like a card was going to summarize his life story. Once again, he remembered that Red Hood was trying to entertain kids. So maybe he should keep his bar lower.

"So, you are going to pick a card that is going to tell me and all these kids about you as a person. What you love the most. What you enjoy."

He turned the cards and showed them so everyone could see them.

"Look, these are all different. Can everyone see that, yes?" The kids nodded. "Good."

He flipped the deck once again. He turned toward Dick.

"You gonna touch any one of these cards. Whichever one you touch, I'm gonna give you a reading on."

Dick glanced at the deck and picked a random one. No need to put much thought into that. The guy was probably going to make up something no matter what Dick chose.

"This one here. You sure? Alright, take it then. Don't turn it over just yet."

Once again, he showed the cards faces up to everyone.

"Now look. You could have literally had any one of these cards. So whichever card this is, this is going to tell all of us about you. What you love. What you enjoy. What kind of person you are. What you live for. Turn it over. Let's have a look."

Dick flipped it around. On the back of his card, it was written in big letters: " **I'M BATMAN'S BITCH**."

A few seconds of silence. Then an explosion.

The kids roared. They were all laughing so hard a couple of them fell on the floor, rolling in the dirt. Even Red Hood was having a laughing fit.

Dick was not planning to join them, at first. After all, he had just been insulted. He was _not_ Batman's bitch. But, eventually, he gave in. It was a little bit funny.

After a few minutes, everyone calmed down. Without being prompted, the kids hugged Red Hood one by one, thanking him.

Jamie was last.

"Thank you, Mr Hood," she said, mid-hug. She stepped away and looked at him with a serious face. "You'll be careful, won't ya?"

"You know me. I'm a bad bitch, they can't kill me."

She rolled her eyes.

"I don't like knowing you are out there on your own," she muttered with a frown. "When is your friend back?"

"Very soon." He grouched to her level and put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry 'bout me, kiddo. You take care of yourself."

She nodded and joined the other kids. They took a few steps back, all staring at Red Hood.

Dick frowned, confused.

Suddenly, Red Hood threw a smoke bomb on the floor. When the smoke dissipated, he was gone.

The kids smiled at each other and each left in a different direction, without paying attention to Nightwing. Jamie was the only one left behind. She stared Dick with an intensity that was making him uncomfortable.

"You better make sure nothing happens to him, _Nightwing_."

She almost spat his name. He shuddered. Where was the sweet little girl that was in front of him, like thirty seconds ago?

"He's the best thing that even happened to Crime Alley. We take care of our own. He's one of us. And _he_ takes care of us. Something none of you bat-fuckers seem to bother about. If **_anything_** happens to Red, we will spend the rest of **_our_** lives make **_yours_** a living hell."

She did not wait for an answer. She turned around and walked away.

Dick swallowed. This patrol had been an emotional roller coaster.

He decided to stay on top of the roof for a few minutes and keep an ear out. Just in case someone decided to attack the kids on their way "home".

He made his way up to the closest building and almost fell off in shock. He had thought Red Hood long gone, but he was at the edge of the rooftop, staring at the distance.

"You're still here."

Red Hood gave no indication that he heard him.

"I thought you left" Dick continued.

Red hood tilted his head slightly.

"I'm staying until they're all properly hidden" Red Hood said, simply. "I dunno know if you noticed, but Crime Alley is not exactly safe."

"Mind if I join in?"

Without waiting for an answer, Dick sat on the floor. The night had been long and he was exhausted.

"You're pretty good with kids."

No answer.

They stayed there, in complete silence for several minutes until Dick could not take it anymore.

"How is Arsenal?"

He was not sure if Red Hood and Roy were on a 'sharing secret identities' level of partnership yet. After all, it took Dick years to finally trust people enough to reveal he was Robin. Bruce still had trouble with that. But Bruce did not trust anyone.

This time, Red Hood turned his entire body towards Dick. He briefly wondered how much peripheral vision the guy had with this helmet on.

"Why do you care?"

"He was my friend," he answered, simply. "One of my best friend."

Red Hood scoffed.

"You have a weird way to show you care."

"What do you mean?" Dick asked.

"Nothing important. He's okay. Well... He's probably getting shot at as we speak, but he'll be fine."

Dick tensed.

"...shot at? Is he okay? Does he need help?"

Red Hood shrugged. Then turned again to face the street. He stayed quiet for a couple of minutes.

"Hum. Nightwing, come have a look at that."

Within seconds, Dick was up on his feet and was looking down the street with intense focus.

"What?" he asked, when he did not notice anything out of the ordinary. He turned to glance at the Red Hood and realised he was gone.

What a jerk.

Nightwing stretched and shook his head to get rid of his tiredness. If Red Hood deemed it safe enough to leave, then surely the kids would be okay.

Dick placed his hand on his coms.

"Guys, I'm done for the night."

 _"Oh. I thought you were already on your way home_ " Red Robin answered.

 _"You stayed in the same location for a while"_ Oracle added. _"Was everything okay?"_

"Yeah. I thought something fishy was going on, so I stayed to keep an eye, but it was a false alarm."

A false alarm in Crime Alley. Like _that_ ever happened.

 _"Right"_ Red Robin trailed.

He definitely suspected that Dick was not telling the whole truth, but he would not ask. That's something he loved about Tim. He enjoyed less the fact that Tim had a tendency to snoop around to try and find the information by himself.

* * *

On the bike ride back to Blüdhavan, Dick could not stop thinking about what happened.

Batman had described Red Hood as a bloodthirsty killer. A wild animal that did not know the difference between right and wrong. An unstable man that could snap at any point.

Everything in his file pointed to that conclusion. But then again, Batman wrote that file. None of them saw what Dick had seen tonight. None of the others had seen the Red Hood for more than a few seconds. So it was not like they could crosscheck Bruce's information.

Well, he just had to create his own file, then. Start from scratch and decide for himself if Red Hood was someone he could trust or not. The fact that he was killing criminals was the only thing he had solid proofs for. But his motivations and goals were blurry.

And maybe, just maybe, Red Hood was not such a bad guy.

* * *

Jason swore has he let himself fall on his sofa. He was still wearing his full Red Hood gear, except the helmet. He could not be bothered to get changed. He just needed a minute. He was exhausted and a bit annoyed.

That _bitch_ , Nightwing annoyed him. He was not sure if it was because of stories Roy had told him or something else. Jason hated that, despise of the fact that Nightwing had literally let Roy down when he needed help the most, Roy still cared for him. Nightwing did not deserve Roy's loyalty.

Not that Jason himself deserved it. But at least, he was _trying_ his best. Roy made him want to be a better person. Even though he would never admit it out loud.

He had made Jason swear not to hurt Nightwing, if he could help it.

To avoid any temptation, he resolved to just avoid the bats. All of them. After all, Roy counted "emotional well being" as well as his physical one. Jason had managed to include a clause that said he was allowed to incapacitate the Bats for his own safety, but had to try his best not to hurt them too badly. Even freaking Batman.

The **_things_** he would do for Roy.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. At least, he managed not to attack Nightwing tonight. He had pointed a gun at him, but did not fire. So it didn't count.

Slowly, he stood back up. All his muscles were screaming at him to lay the fuck down and sleep. But he decided to go take a shower before bed. He had a long day ahead of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we got Dick and Jason but also Nightwing and Red Hood. The balance has been restored. 
> 
> I am writing a sequel. It will be published as a separate story (same series though) because these two fics were very magic-based. And I don't know how long I can drag that theme for x) 
> 
> The sequel won't be out for, at least, a couple of weeks. Because uni is a bitch and the professors hate us. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr, with the url meyli-vaisyl
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. Take care.


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